Camdenton approves Capital Improvement Program for CM-LRA

CODY MROCZKACMROCZKA@LAKESUNONLINE.COM

Monday

Dec 18, 2017 at 6:00 AM

The most controversial part of the plan was in relation to hangar building as the airport currently has a waiting list and there’s been talk of both private and public funded construction to solve the issue.

The City of Camdenton is prepared to spend $520,000 next year on the proposed runway extension project if it receives nearly $4.7 million in funding from the Federal Aviation Administration to complete the project.

The board of aldermen recently approved its Camdenton Memorial-Lake Regional Capital Improvement Program report which will be submitted to the Missouri Department of Transportation for planning purposes and funding considerations in the future.

Mayor John McNabb and Alderwoman Sandy Osborn expressed concerns about the report regarding the city’s involvement in building a new T-hangar next year as well as a potential new terminal building in 2021-2022, but City Administrator Jeff Hancock assured the elected officials that nothing had been decided on hangars and all options were being explored — private and public.

“We’re going to submit this and we’ll know in the spring sometime whether or not we’ll have funding for the runway and we’ve got the funds to build this runway. It’s been a big process and great deal of work. We’re ready to go,” Hancock said. “The real issue is whether or not we’re going to be getting funding on this runway extension.”

To construct the 1,000-foot runway extension, Camdenton will first need to clear 45 acres of recently acquired land to reduce wildlife habitats and eventually allow for grading operations to commence.

Because this phase of the project also includes extending wildlife fencing to keep livestock from entering the airport and to protect the Indiana bat, the clearing and grubbing can only take place between November and March, according to a CIP data sheet. The total cost is $500,000 with the city paying $50,000 and federal funding covering the rest.

The next portion of the runway extension proposed for 2018, according to a separate CIP data sheet, would include the closure of Forbes Road and the extension of Opportunity Road to restore access cut off by the closure of Forbes Road. The total cost of this phase would be $4.7 million with the city kicking in $470,000.

Both phases were identified in the updated Master Plan Report and Airport Layout Plan completed in February of 2014 with the purpose and need justified in an environmental assessment completed in April of 2014.

Since then, Camdenton has saved approximately $2.5 million in transportation funding for the project expected to be finished in 2019 if started in 2018. The 2018 CIP proposes the final stage to extend the runway and parallel taxiway in 2019 at a cost of $2.6 million with the city responsible for $260,000.

The most controversial part of the plan was in relation to hangar building as the airport currently has a waiting list and there’s been talk of both private and public funded construction to solve the issue.

“One of my concerns with the T-hangar is that we’d be paying all the expense for that and so I think we’re working on exactly how that would come out. There are several different options,” McNabb said. “The possibility of private ownership like we have done in the past, whatever, one of my concerns about this $550,000 figure CMT has come up is more than double than we paid for any of our hangars in the past.”

The 2018 CIP does propose to construct an eight-unit T-hangar and accompanying taxi lane with the city prepared to spend $580,000 in transportation funds, according to the report. But first grading, draining and paving for a new hangar taxi-lane would need to take place, estimated to cost $300,000 with the city responsible for $30,000.

“I think that the board has concerns as well about the cost, maybe the timing is not since our estimates are a little high, but I think the city needs to maintain ownership on the T-hangers,” Osborn said. “I think there’s room for private hangars as long as they revert to city ownership, but it has to be a good blend of those. I think maybe we’re looking at pricing when the market isn’t right, I know we need hangars out there, but we have limited pockets.”

Hancock said the hangar decision could be tweaked in the future, but the most important thing was approving the report to have it on the record.

“We can tweak the hangars. The big deal is whether or not we’re going to get some of these items for the runway, fencing and grading to do the actual extension down the way,” Hancock said. “That’s the big issue.”

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